super adobe Archives - Page 4 of 5

GUARD DOGS IN T-SHIRTS

November 3, 2011 No Comments

Clay and sand became a neat, slightly wrinkly, row of earth bags outlining our first garden bed. However, satisfaction turned upside down when we saw how quickly the pile of clay had diminished with so few bags. Luckily our friends Nicholas and Minna saved us by offering up their trailer to collect more clay.

We returned to the building site greeted by guard dogs in t-shirts, if their wagging tails and liquid eyes didn’t diminish the quality of their threat then their wardrobe sure did. The owners were kind enough to take photos of us at work, we noted that the number of people we owed a crate of home brew thank yous was rising.

As a thanks for the trailer we delivered a load of clay to Minna at her house in Heidelberg for cobbing. She and Nicholas have been running earth bag workshops in their backyard and we were met with the glorious site of their earth dome rising proudly amongst post-war brick houses with ubiquitous tiled hip roofs.The contrast will make their dome all the more delightful when they have it rendered. I don’t think you’ll find a sauna like this anywhere else in Melbourne, it’s a shame!

You can see progress of their dome at their Permastructure website.

Eco building, Garden

CHANCE OF RAIN

October 27, 2011 2 Comments

We have finally started construction on the two earth-bag garden beds we want to have tamped and ready for the Permablitz! It is exciting to see the plans starting to take shape in front of us, but oh there is so much to do before the day!

The first sight that meets your smarting eyes at most Permablitzes is a mound of compost so tall that if you were unfortunate enough to have it dumped over your head you would be lucky to have your nose in daylight. The main task for the day is moving this pile shovel after shovel and barrow after barrow from its current location to another one some metres away. Even those with the sunniest outlooks can find this a little uninspiring.

We were determined that our Permablitz would involve a lot more variety, some interesting skills to learn and some fun, less back breaking jobs like rendering earth bag walls and planting out garden beds. Unfortunately for people to render and plant they need some of the garden beds made before the day. That is how we, and our poor dear housemates, have found ourselves shovels in hands and wheelbarrows full for the last few weeks. Hopefully their sunny outlooks are not as overcast as the weather forecast for Sunday. Hold off on the rain dances please.

Eco building

SLEEPERS AND DOMES

April 6, 2011 3 Comments

The dome is practically finished! Just a few foot holds for kids to climb on the roof and soil to be filled in around the bottom so they don’t smash themselves when they tumble off the roof. We ended up bringing in sand for the final render as the landfill just wasn’t cutting it. The plaster already began to cobweb crack as we were finishing it off, but I really like that, I think it makes it the more beautiful. Nader developed the ‘reptiling’ because he had until that moment being working against the crack, trying to work against nature, but one day he sat up in the middle of the night and realised why not work with it, you can’t crack a reptile because it is one.

The whole course was peppered with poems and wisdom that Sheefteh remembered her father telling her as a little girl, and this is one that resounded with the whole group.

No matter how hard you try you cannot wake someone who is pretending to sleep, but whilst in their faux slumber they will be listening and watching with half an ear and half an eye.

Do you remember pretending to sleep as a child?

Many of the people in the group were interested in green issues, many had studied permaculture and it has always been something that just leaves you feeling chilled when you speak to someone who just refuses to believe in something like climate change and what’s more belittles you for your ideals. I had a run in with a “green” developer recently who laughed uproariously at climate change and the suckers who would pay extra for a green building, practically rubbing his hands together. But as Rumi says, you can’t make someone who doesn’t want to know listen and it can just leave you feeling helpless. It is better to do what positive things you can with those who are interested and perhaps the sleepers will come around in the end. What a lovely thought. Can it be true?

Eco building

BALANCING ACTS AND GOAT GUARDIANS

January 15, 2011 No Comments

At CAL-Earth they would make anyone who called the earth “dirt” do push ups or laps, but I think Heather and Sheefteh let us off easier because our “earth” was actually old landfill and many treasures were to be found in the mountains of “earth”: old woollen jumpers, glass bottles, plastic bags and unknown squishy things. But that’s all part of the fun, spongy boots, mud pie gloves and dirty jokes.

This week had the post peculiar weather, it was humid and wet like tropical Asia. Chili peppers everywhere joyfully doubled in size whilst we felt slightly wilted with our boots bogged in the mounds of mud. Dylan added a happy little mud goat man to the top of a window sill for the next group who would finish the top of the dome and I think now that we have all gotten into such a good group rhythm everyone was sad to drop shovel and pack up our yellow dish washing gloves.